[1] The museum was designed by Isle of Wight architect Rainey Petrie Johns in the shape of a giant pterosaur.

Throughout the 19th century, many collectors such as the Reverend William Fox (1813-1881) excavated the types of new dinosaur genera, including Aristosuchus, Hypsilophodon foxii, and Polacanthus.

Most of the discoveries were then transferred to the mainland for study and exhibition, which after some time prompted the Isle of Wight Council to begin its own collection.

Many life-size replicas and models are found there, including ornithischians such as Iguanodon, Polacanthus and Hypsilophodon, in addition to saurischians like Eotyrannus.

Additionally, a large allosauroid theropod, Neovenator salerii (discovered in 1978 and described by Steve Hutt[5] one of the curators of the museum) is also exhibited, as is a replica skeleton of Megalosaurus.